Skylab 3 (also SL-3 and SLM-2) was the second manned mission to Skylab. The Skylab 3 mission started July 28, 1973, with the launch of three astronauts on the Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 59 days, 11 hours and 9 minutes. A total of 1,084.7 astronaut-utilization hours were tallied by Skylab 3 astronauts performing scientific experiments in the areas of medical activities, solar observations, Earth resources and other experiments.
During the approa...
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Skylab 3 (also SL-3 and SLM-2) was the second manned mission to Skylab. The Skylab 3 mission started July 28, 1973, with the launch of three astronauts on the Saturn IB rocket, and lasted 59 days, 11 hours and 9 minutes. A total of 1,084.7 astronaut-utilization hours were tallied by Skylab 3 astronauts performing scientific experiments in the areas of medical activities, solar observations, Earth resources and other experiments.
During the approach phase, problems developed in the Apollo CSM's reaction control system, and a leak formed. The crew was able to safely dock with Skylab, but troubleshooting would continue with the problem. For the first time, an Apollo spacecraft would be rolled out to Launch Complex 39 for a rescue mission, made possible by the ability for the station to have two Apollo CSMs docked at the same time. They eventually fixed the problem, and the rescue mission was never launched.
The crew, during their first EVA, installed the twin-pole sunshade, one of the...
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